Bedding in front of the recoil lug?

Stress free is also about not bending the action even a few thou while it cures.
There is a way to tell if it's fairly stress free without equipment but I thought Kaseyfied would explain all that. Im still waiting.

Ok...here's the update:
Shaved off to only 1/4" of bedding in front of the lug - no difference. Removed it all and I shot a 4 shot group at .80. So that is an improvement. However, the bullets were right on top of each other just strung out horizontally. Any thoughts why the gun would shoot so tight virtically (aboit .20) but spread horizontally? My paralax was good. A little gusty today but mostly head wind at about 20 degree angle. I don't have a way to measure torque on the guard screws. Could this be an issue? I am assuming that if the gun can shoot this tight virtically there should be a way to improve the horizontal spread. Am I wrong?

As a general rule of thumb vertical stringing means that the bullet is not leaving the barrel at the same harmonic whip everytime. The fix is usually to go up in charge weights until it works out. Horizontal stringing generally means the bedding job is stressed or something else is wrong with the bedding. There is no good way i know of to tell for sure if it is stressed. The only way to tell if it has something to do with the bedding is either remove it all and have it re done or switch stocks. How many bedding jobs have you done in the past? I know that i sure screwed up the first few i did. It seems simple but there is skill and experience involved.

First bed job, but I can't imagine any stress anywhere unless i am not putting enough torque on the action screw and getting tight contact with the bed. I have tightened it snug but not real tight (don't have a torque measurement).
There is one spot at the end of the tang where the bed looks slightly worn or just a litter darker than the rest of the bedding (after about 50 shots). Could this be a pressure point? Don't know how much the tang would cause a problem.

J E is right. Change the powder charge .3 grains up for 3 rounds and down for 3 rounds and shoot some groups.
I bet one shoots better than what you have now.
I wouldn't change the OAL length or primer type. Change one thing at a time, test and record the results. No way to figure out what is wrong if you start changing a bunch of things at once.
When you shot the .45 group was that the only one or was it a consistent group size?
One other thing to try is shooting it without the mag box and follower. Takes the stress of that out of the mix. I have had problems with that before.
Good luck and keep us posted.